Chronicles of the Red Witch Book 1: Family Affairs
by Naitch03
Summary: Magneto pleads with his old friend Xavier to train his newfound niece in the use of her powers. But as Cyclops and Co. travel to Sunnydale to recruit Willow, Ethan Rayne approaches Angelus with a plan to remake the world with the help of Madelyn Pryor.
1. Issue 1

**Chronicles of the Red Witch**

**Book 1: Family Ties**

**Disclaimers: Marvel owns the X-Men and all affiliated characters. Joss Wheedon owns Willow, Buffy, and all affiliated characters. I own nothing but the plot.**

**_This story takes place during the end of Season 2 of Buffy, and a few weeks after X2. While I'll be following movie continuity for the most part, aspects of the comics will appear in this story.

* * *

_**

**Prologue**

It was a beautiful day in New York City. The city so nice they named it twice, today New Yorkers were blessed with clear skies and 70 degrees, perfect weather for the outdoor bistro Charles Xavier had chosen for this meeting. He sat at his table, patiently waiting for his old friend to show us as he sipped his earl grey tea. Sensing a presence behind him, he looked up and smiled.

"Hello Eric."

"Hello, Charles." A voice said from behind him and, moments later, a tall, distinguished looking man, his grey hair mostly hidden under his fedora, stepped passed him and sat across from his old friend. "Thank you for meeting with me. And thank you for not alerting the authorities."

"No need to cause a scene, Eric." Charles replied amicably. "Besides, I found your message to be quite intriguing. You say that you have discovered a mutant that you would like me to train. I am most curious as to why you would have me do this, instead of training her yourself."

Magneto chuckled, then took a file out from under his coat and passed it to Charles. "Yes, it is a bit- ironic, is it not? However, this is a…delicate case."

Charles nodded absently as he opened the file. He glanced briefly at the picture of the young red-head, an obviously candid photo taken without her knowledge. She looked to be no older than sixteen and was dressed in plain, unassuming clothes, her shoulder length hair left free. She had a shy, unassuming face, free of the worries of the real world.

"Her mutant power should be very familiar to you," Eric continued, "manipulation of magnetic fields."

"Much like yourself." Xavier noted.

"Exactly like myself." Magneto replied. "You see, she is my niece….."

* * *

**Alkali Lake, Canada**

Ethan Rayne hated the cold.

He also hated the outdoors, excessive physical exertion, large bodies of water, and Canada in general. So why he had felt compelled to hike out to this god forsaken lake was beyond him at the moment.

"At least there aren't any bloody insects…" he grumbled to himself as he slowly walked around the edge of the recently expanded lake. He hadn't heard many details about it- only that the damn had failed and the valley had been flooded. No particular reason why he should be drawn here.

"I am a servant of the Lords of Chaos. I am a wizard of unparalleled power. I bring chaos and destruction to everywhere I go and everyone I meet." He shouted out loud. "So can someone please tell me why I am in this GOD-FORSAKEN PLACE IN THE BLOODY DEAD OF WINTER!"

For a moment there was only silence, and Ethan let out a dejected sigh. The sigh caught in his throat, however, as a rumbling sound grew throughout the valley. Ethan glanced around frantically, searching for the cause, desperately worrying that another flood was forthcoming-

Then he saw the disturbance in the water.

It started slowly at first, a small bubbling and churning in the water that rapidly expanded, sloshing water over the shore. Warily Ethan started to back up-

And then the water exploded. Or rather, a figure exploded from the water. Her black leather jumpsuit was soaked, her red hair damp, and yet she was wreathed in flame-

In the shape of a bird.

"My god…"

"_**I am fire and life incarnate! From this day forth, I AM PHOENIX!"**_

Suddenly the fire dimmed, and the woman's eyes rolled back in her head as she crashed back into the water. With only a moments hesitation, Ethan trudged into the freezing water and pulled the woman back out onto the shore.

"Well, well. The gods must be smiling down on me." Ethan said, a smile spreading over his face as he looked down upon the unconscious woman below him. "You and me, my dear, are going to have such a good time…

* * *

**Sunnydale**

_Dear Diary,_

_Yesterday, I was a perfectly normal teenager. If being a perfectly normal teenager includes staking vampires and reading up on the Black Arts. I guess that's what happens when your best friend is the Vampire Slayer. But last night had nothing to do with Slayers or vampires- at least, not directly._

_You see, we were at the Bronze, just hanging out and having a good time when they attacked. A gang of vampires, big and nasty and intent on making the Harvest look like recess. Of course, they didn't realize Buffy was there- though they soon found out, in spades. Me, Xander and Cordelia started herding people towards the exits. Several of the vamps saw this, though, and quickly rushed to catch their fleeing dinner. Several were caught and slaughtered before my eyes- their blood is still on my clothes._

_And that's when all hell broke loose._

_Actually, to be accurate, that's when the whole building started to break loose. At MY command. Banisters, tables, silverware- anything metals suddenly swarmed around the place, entrapping vamps and, in some cases, separating their heads from their necks. When the dust settled, everyone was staring at me, even Buffy, like I was some kind of fr-"_

A spark from her fingers and a flash on the screen later, and her laptop was dead, courteously for a random EMP blast from her over-agitated self. Willow Rosenberg stared at the computer in shock for a moment before sitting back in her chair and letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Well, that's just great."

* * *

**Westchester, New York**

**Xavier Academy**

"You wanted to see me, Professor?"

"Yes, Scott. Come in."

Scott Summers, also known as the X-Man Cyclops, walked into the opulent office of Professor Charles Xavier, the headmaster of the Xavier Academy and sat down behind the large desk that Xavier sat behind in his automatic wheelchair. He settled in his chair and looked wearily to his mentor. Charles looked back concerned.

"Scott, I know the past few months haven't been particularly kind to you, especially with Jeans death," he started. "That in particular has hit many here hard. But right now I need you for a very important assignment." He slid a file across the desk, which Scott dutifully picked up. "Her name is Willow Rosenberg. She was brought to my attention by an old friend- Magneto."

"Magneto?" Scott looked up at the Professor. "Why would Magneto tell you about any mutant?"

"Because this one apparently would abhor his ideology. But at the same time, she needs to learn how to control her powers."

"But why this one?"

"Read the file, Scott. She's a level four mutant with a control over magnetic fields." He looked at Scott, seeming to pierce the red sunglasses he was forced to wear. "She's his niece."

"His niece?" he exclaimed. "And she doesn't want to follow in his footsteps?"

"By all accounts, she's a wallflower. Very shy and unassuming; a rather meek personality. Which puts her in even greater danger, if her powers were to manifest in a public place."

"She'd probably be too scared to defend herself." Scott said thoughtfully. "You want me to recruit her?"

"I'd like you to try, Scott. Though ultimately the decision belongs to her and her parents. Though according to Eric's surveillance, they aren't around often. I want you to take Storm and Logan-"

"I don't need Logan." Scott argued. "He's a loose cannon, and I doubt with him being there I'd be able to convince this girl to let us help her."

"By all accounts, Sunnydale is a very dangerous place. Having Logan there will ensure your security. Plus, he needs something to take his mind off of- things- as well. I also want you to take some students, to give her a feel of how we do things here."

"You really ant to recruit this girl, don't you?"

"Her powers are both incredible, and incredibly dangerous. And if we don't manage to get her here, it is only a matter of time before Eric decides to take her by force."

Scott rubbed his face and sighed. "Fine. I'll take Kitty, Bobby, Pete, Rogue and Jubilee. They've become something of the Fantastic Five around here recently, and they're all competent enough to fight if they have to defend themselves." He rose from his chair. "I'll let them all know, and we'll leave first thing tomorrow."

"Very well. Good luck, Scott." Xavier added. "Good luck."

Scott smiled wanly. "Magneto's niece or not, it's a milk run Professor. What could possibly go wrong?

* * *

**Sunnydale**

**The Mansion**

Angelus stalked through the halls of the deserted mansion, cursing and breaking various things in his path as Spike looked on from his wheelchair. For the fifteenth time he silently thanked whatever god would listen to him for Drub eng out looking for dinner, for the uproar his grandsire was in now would have put her in a right state.

"Problems, Peaches?" Spike asked in a bored tone. "Things not go according to plan?"

"I had her right where I wanted her!" Angelus raged. "Right there in that damned club, dozens of innocent bystanders- I sent in overwhelming numbers!"

"Yes, yes, and the Slayer killed them all. We've been singing this tune since before you lost your soul and regained your sanity."

"That's just it, Sit-and-Spin! She didn't kill them all! Some freakjob mutant did!

Spike leaned forward in his chair. "Well, that's a new development. Any idea who?"

"Not yet." Angelus growled. "But I intend to find out. And when I do- the freak, it's family, it's freakin' ancestors- they're all dead. In ways even you couldn't imagine."

"Oh good." Spike replied, a lazy grin on his face. "I always liked a show with dinner…."

**TBC**

And so begins the Chronicles of the Red Witch. Just so you know, this will be a saga in four parts, spanning the second, forth and fifth years of Buffy, and the Civil War storyline of Marvel (including some, NOT all, aspects of the House of M deal). Do not expect frequent updates on this story, as I do have three others I'm working on right now. But this story has been eating away at me since X2 first came out, and spending my entire vacation read comics has fully fueled my creative fires. Finally, expect to see me integrate Comic continuity with Movie continuity where it is acceptable.

Till next time, true believers!

Naitch03


	2. Issue 2

**The Nature Boy Presents**

**Chronicles of the Red Witch**

**Book 1: Family Affairs**

* * *

**Disclaimer**: Buffy the Vampire Slayer is owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy- along with Dark Horse comics now. X-Men was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and is owned b y Marvel Comics; elements from the movies are owned by Fox Studios.

**A/N:** This story takes place during Season 2 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and a short time after X2- X-Men United. HOWEVER, I will be using back-story and elements from the comics- IE, both Jubilee and Kitty Pryde will have a close friendship with Wolverine, Angel is the same age as Scott (and one of the original X-Men, not the angsty teenager from the third movie), Colossus is Russian, and above all Kitty is truer to her comic roots-for this book, anyways. For that matter, completely disregard X3.

* * *

**Dramatis Personae **

Scott Summers (Cyclops): Concussive Energy Blasts

Logan (Wolverine): Healing factor, Adamantium skeleton and claws

Jubilation Lee (Jubilee) Generates multi-colored globules of energy plasma

Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) Phases through solid matter, computer prodigy

Peter Rasputin (Colossus) Transforms body into unbreakable metal alloy

Bobby Drake (Iceman) Generates ice to be used as offensive or defensive weapons

Marie (Rogue): Absorbs life-energy and/or mutant powers via dierect skin contact

Buffy Summers: Slayer

Willow Rosenberg: Budding witch, controls magnetic fields to manipulate metal around her.

Xander Harris: Human

Rupert Giles: Watcher, human

Angelus (Angel): Vampire

Spike (William the Bloody) Vampire, currently crippled

Drusilla: Vampire

Ethan Rayne: Sorcerer, worshiper of chaos

Jean Grey (Phoenix): current state unknown

**Previously in Chronicles of the Red Witch: Family Affairs:**

Eric Magnus Lehnsherr- the mutant terrorist known as Magneto- met with his old friend and long time adversary, Charles Xavier to ask for his help in training his newly found niece- Willow Rosenberg. Xavier agrees and dispatches Scott Summers, Logan, and a team of his older students to the small town of Sunnydale to try and recruit the young mutant before her out of control powers hurt anybody.

Willow, meanwhile, is holed up in her house, convinced that her friends have forsaken her due to her new-found condition. Angelus, whose plans had been ruined thanks to Willow, vows vengeance once he finds out who the mutant is.

And in snowy Canada, Ethan Rayne was drawn to the resurrection of Jean Grey- now possessed by the ancient magical being known as the Phoenix. Rayne, however, plans to take advantage of the weakened state of the being to suite his own purposes...

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"You should have seen it, Giles! One minute we were overrun, then BAM!" Buffy Summers, current Chosen One and high school student, slammed her fist down on the table, "Every piece of metal in the joint just came alive and went after the vamps!"

"And you're sure there wasn't a spell involved at all?" Rupert Giles asked. As the Slayers Watcher, it was his job to not only train and look after the current Slayer, but also to chronicle the varied adventure Buffy went on for his Watcher's diaries. This entry, however, was becoming more and more troublesome as the explanation went on.

_Bloody retreats_, he thought bitterly. _If they'd let me stay here where I was supposed to be and not dragged me of back to London for that tedious meeting, I would have been here to see this even for myself. Instead, I'm forced to rely on the somewhat colorful observations of Buffy and her friends. Speaking of which, where was Willow?_

"No, no spells. I mean, I know Willow is looking into Magic for defense against Angelus, but still…"

"Wait a minute." Giles interrupted. "You're telling me Willow made the metal come alive?"

"That's what I've been saying." Buffy replied exasperatedly. "Giles, I think Willow is a mutant."

Giles had nothing against mutants- indeed, a couple of his closer friends at Cambridge had been closet mutants, too afraid of public reactions to come out. But Willow…

"I take it that's why she's not here?"

"She hasn't come to school all week, Giles. We've tried calling her house, but we haven't got an answer." Buffy looked down at her shoes ashamedly. "I kinda freaked at the time, so I think she's afraid of me…"

"You didn't attack her…" Giles started, alarmed.

"NO! God, no!" Buffy quickly reassured him. "It's just, well, everybody was freaking, and vamps are one thing, but metal coming alive… the way I looked at her, like she was come kind of monster." Buffy snorted. "Like I'm any more normal. She who was chosen to kill vamps and ruin all of her good tops."

Giles took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He liked Willow- pretty much everybody who got to know the shy young hacker liked her, for that matter. The fact that she was isolating herself worried him greatly, and he quickly thought through the options on how to best repair the damage done.

"Have you been to her house?" he asked. Buffy shook her head.

"Between feeling bad, homework, and my soon-to-be-dead-again-ex-boyfriend, we really haven't had much time. I keep meaning too…"

"Then go do it." Giles decided suddenly. "I'll write a pass for you and Xander. If anybody asks, you two are picking up some new books for me. Go to Willow's and tell her that you are still her friend." He stopped writing long enough to look over the tops of his glasses. "You are still her friends, aren't you?"

Buffy's steely gaze met the Watcher's unflinchingly. "Until the bitter end."

* * *

Less than fifteen minutes later, Buffy and Xander found themselves walking down the street towards Willow's house.

"Remind me to thank both Willow and Giles, 'cause this got me out of a math test." Xander said, trying to lighten the mood.

"We should have done this day's ago." Buffy said. "We should have done this the same freaking night. Now she probably thinks we hate her."

"No, she probably thinks I hate her." Xander countered sadly. "At least you have superpowers to make you different. How am I supposed to relate?"

Buffy eyed her friend. "Bad fashion sense?" she joked lightly, then sighed. "I don't know. The important thing is that we show her that we still love her, that she's still our Willow…what?" she asked at his sudden look of alarm. Following his line of sight, her eye's fell on the damaged front of Willow's house. Window's were broken, graffiti was spray-painted all over, bushes were ripped up- and across the door, written in red paint, was DIE MUTIES.

"Correction- the important thing is to make sure she's still alive." Xander corrected, running the rest of the way up the path and leaping up onto the porch, stopping just short of the door. He was examining it when Buffy skidded to a stop besides him. "Door was forced, but the chain held. Looks like the windows were barricaded as well, but I don't know with what…"

"Anything in the house that was metal." Buffy surmised, looking over the broken windows critically. "Probably flattened the pots and pans. When the hell did this happen!?"

"Looks recent- maybe within the last day?" Xander responded. "Should we go around back and try to get in, or should we-" he was cut off as Buffy firmly kicked the front door, easily snapping the chain and causing the door to swing open and forcefully impact the wall behind it. "Or we could just go in the front." Xander finished.

"WILLOW!" Buffy yelled, looking frantically round the lower level of the house and finding no sign of her friend. "Wills! Where are you?" she stopped and looked to Xander. "Let's try her room."

The two friends bounded up the stairs, taking them two at a time until they reached the top, then turned the corner and headed to the familiar room at the end of the hall, coming up short at what they saw.

The entire door was covered in metal- silver platters, pots, spoons and forks- all flattened, intertwined, and covering the door like an armored plate. Buffy and Xander stared at the door gobsmacked.

"Some people put up posters. Willow puts up armor plating." Xander noted dumbly.

"Good thing her parents aren't ever here. Probably won't even notice." Buffy noted before walking up to the door and pounding on it. "Willow! We're not going away out here! Let us in!"

"Go away!" Willow's muffled voice replied.

"Wills.."

"GO AWAY!" Willow screamed once more. To emphasize her point, the silver and metal on the door suddenly reformed into spike, each about six inches long and very, very sharp.

"Holy Hannah!" Xander exclaimed, involuntarily jumping back a bit. Buffy stared at the door in shock, then closed her eyes and sighed.

"Willow, I know you're probably upset with us- and for good reason. We flaked out on you the other night, and we haven't been here for you when you needed us. But we're here now, and we're not going away. So here's what we're going to do- me and Xander are going to run at that door and we're not going to stop until we break it down. Now you can keep those spikes up and let us impale ourselves, or you can let us in and we can talk. What do you say?"

Silence was her only answer.

Buffy looked to Xander, who nodded in acceptance. "Okay Will, we're going on three!" he called out, then looked to Buffy. "One…"

"Two…" Buffy continued.

"Thr-"

The spikes melted back into the door, which swung open silently. Buffy looked at Xander, and both let out breaths of relief.

"That would have hurt." Xander commented, walking forward calmly.

"Little bit." Buffy conceded. The two entered the room and looked at the mess it had become. Plates, food wrappers and clothes littered the floor; the bed was unmade and papers were strewn all over the floor. The two French doors that led out to Willow's small balcony were barricaded, and Buffy could see bits of broken glass on the floor that hadn't been picked up.

"Fancy meeting you here." Willow smiled weakly from her hiding spot besides the head of the bed. Her clothes were wrinkled and dirty; her hair and oily, tangled mass. She looked as if she hadn't got a decent nights' sleep in days. "Hey guys."

"Oh, Willow." Buffy moaned, sinking down on the floor next to her friend."God, I'm sorry we didn't come sooner. We kinda freaked…"

"Which is highly ironic…if you try not to think of it at all…" Xander added lamely. Willow chuckled.

"Yeah, I can guess there was some serious-level wiggage going on. I'm sorry…"

"You have nothing, NOTHING to be sorry about." Xander emphasized, kneeling besides his oldest friend and taking her hand in his. "We flipped out, Wills. Despite all the crazy stuff and wacky things we've seen over the past two years, despite the fact that Buffy's the freaking Slayer, we both flipped out. And we had no reason to."

"You had a perfectly good reason."

"You are my friend, Willow. OUR friend. We want you to know that. WE NEED you to know that."

"We're here for you, Willow. Till the bitter end." Xander added solemnly. Willow raised an eyebrow.

"The bitter end?"

"Well…whatever kind of end there is. Hopefully one with a less-bitter aftertaste."

Willow smiled, then choked out a sob. "I-I've been so scared… I thought I didn't have anybody…" Buffy pulled her sobbing friend into a tight hug.

"You got us, Wills. And Giles, too. We'll be here for you. I promise."

* * *

"So, Magneto's niece lives here, in California's capital of boredom?"

Jubilation Lee, known to her friends and teammates as simply Jubilee, stared out of the vans' windows as Scott drove the small group down the suburban streets in Sunnydale. Logan sat up front with Scott, while Jubilee rode in back with her fellow teammates. Dubbed in the school jokingly as the New Mutants , the team consisted of the best and brightest of the teens who had been in intensive training with the X-Men for months- Rogue, Bobby Drake, Peter Rasputin, Jubilation Lee and Kitty Pryde. They all came from different walks of life, from different places on the globe, but all had the same thing in common- they were mutants, and as such they were outcasts from normal society.

"In a way, it kind of reminds me of my old home." Kitty remarked. "Small suburbia on the outskirts of a major metropolis. Just a longer drive is all."

"Which house do you think is hers?" Bobby asked.

"Probably the one that's trashed." Rogue supplied, pointing out her window. "Look."

The van drove quietly past the Rosenberg's residence, it's occupants staring forlornly at the damaged home.

"She may have left already." Bobby noted. Logan shook his head.

"No, the Professor's sure she's at her home. Explains why she was so afraid. Wonder if she's hurt?

"We'll find out soon enough." Scott said decisively, parking the van a few doors down from the Rosenberg's house. "Let's go, team. Fast but quiet."

The group piled out of the van and walked briskly back towards the house. "Door's been forced." Logan noted. "Windows are sealed tight, though?" he remarked, absently rubbing his wrists. Scott noticed and frowned.

"Something wrong, Logan?"

"My bones are aching." He remarked with some trepidation. "Kinda like when I was around Mags."

"Well, she is his niece." Kitty remarked. "And the professor said she had similar powers."

"Probably how she barricaded the windows." Peter added.

The small group made their way silently inside the house, and looked around at the devastation. "Alright people, spread out and try to find her."

* * *

Willow and Xander were joking like old times when Buffy first heard the people approaching. She quickly shushed them and moved to Willow's door, closing it almost all the way. She listened intently as they made their way into the house.

"What's going on?" Willow asked fearfully. "What's happening?"

"A bunch of people just walked in, and their moving about cautiously." Buffy replied. "I think they're looking for you."

Willow shivered "Well, one of them is armed, at least. I can feel the metal…"

"Okay, that's kinda cool, but kinda weird at the same time." Xander said glibly, trying to keep it light for Willow's sake. The redhead gave him a weak smile.

"Now you know how I feel all of the time."

"You two, stay here." Buffy said suddenly. "These punks want to mess with my friends, they're going to see what they're really going up against."

"You can't go out there alone!" Willow objected.

"She won't." Xander said, picking up a baseball bat. "I got your back."

Buffy sighed. "Fine, but watch yourself. And you stay up here, Wills. No arguments. If they are armed, I don't want to give them a shot at you."

"Fine, I'll stay out of the way." Willow agreed reluctantly. "But what are you going to do?"

Buffy smirked. "What I do best."

* * *

"Nothing in the basement, Scott." Jubilee reported as she came back in from the kitchen.

"Rest of the house looks empty down here." Kitty reported. "If she's still here, she must be upstairs."

"Then let's go-"

"CYKE!!" Logan shouted suddenly. "LOOK OUT!"

As silently as she could, Buffy had run down the hall from Willow's room to the landing that faced the front door. Using her Slayer abilities she leapt into a one-handed handstand on top of the banister, spinning herself around before grabbing a hold of the banister and letting gravity take hold. Her momentum carried her down in a graceful arc where her feet collided with Scott's face, sending his glasses flying one direction as she flew back through the now closed kitchen door. "You picked the wrong house to break into, and the wrong girl to terrorize jack-ass." Buffy snarled as she used the recoil from her impact with Scott to propel her into a back somersault. She landed on her feet and spun around, sending her closed fist flying backwards into Logan's jaw…

The blow staggered him, and hurt Buffy, much to her astonishment.

"Ow! What the heck?" she exclaimed. Logan growled and charged at the smaller girl, swinging right for her face. Buffy ducked the swing and landed another of her own in his ribs, following it up with a roundhouse kick to his face.

"Logan!" Kitty cried. She had been halfway up the stairs when the blond girl suddenly came out of nowhere and attacked Scott and Logan, and the suddenness of the attack had stunned the students.

"BANZAI!" Kitty's head whipped around in time to see a dark-haired boy diving straight down the stairs at her with a baseball bat, swinging wildly. Instinctively she used her mutant power to become intangible, and the boy's look of determination quickly turned to one of bewilderment as he passed straight through her-

And plowed instead into Rogue and Jubilee, who had started to follow her up the stairs.

_Well, that didn't go like I thought it would._ Xander thought to himself as he quickly pulled himself up. He hadn't want to hit the girl- he didn't like hitting girls in general, as a matter of principal. But still, if you broke into his best friends house, looking to hurt her- it didn't matter if you were a man, woman, or a freaking chimpanzee (he was secretly waiting for the killer chimpanzee's to come and try and take over the Hellmouth) you would have to go through him first. So imagine his surprise when _he _went through _her._

"Hey!" Bobby shouted as he came towards Xander. He didn't get far though as Xander swung his bat into Iceman's gut, then followed through quickly with a blow to the back. "Wrong house, bozo!"

"Missed me, jerk!"

Xander spun around just in time for Kitty's foot to impact with his jaw. The young Scooby staggered back into the door as the young Mutant landed on her feet. She sprang up and grabbed a hold of the bat, yanking it forward with all of her strength. Still shocked by the kick, Xander found himself being drawn rapidly towards the girl-

Then through her again-

And he kept going forward until he slammed up against a hard chest. Xander bounced back slightly and, without thinking- or really looking- let loose with a haymaker right into the new figures jaw.

That turned out to be a mistake when the jaw his fist impacted turned to omnium.

"OW! Son-of-a-monkey's-bu-" he trailed off s he finally took in the massive, armored form of Colossus in front of him. Instinctivley he let loose with a right to his gut that hurt his hand more than anything else, then desperately kicked him soundly in the family jewels- again, the only effect being that he hurt his own foot.

"You have got to be kidding me."

"I'm afraid not, comrade." The young Russian replied, not-so-gently bringing his armored fist down upon Xander's head. The young man crumpled to the floor almost immediately, unconscious .

Meanwhile Buffy was having a surprisingly hard time with the old guy she was fighting. She had already determined that if she hadn't had enhanced strength, just hitting the guy would have already put her down; and if she hadn't had enhanced reflexes, he would have caught her already. Ignoring the pain she plowed on, unleashing a flurry of blows on the guy wile ducking and bobbing out of the way of his.

"Man, what have you got in there, rocks?" she asked, landing another blow to his head.

Logan growled in frustration. He didn't want to hurt the girl, not until he really knew what the hell she was doing here. But she was starting to hurt him with her continuous blows. He blocked her follow up punch, then landed one of his own right on her jaw sending her staggering back into the wall.

"Nope. Metal." He growled, launching a flurry of blows that Buffy couldn't completely block. Several made it through her defenses, hurting the young Slayer more than she would have liked. So she did the only thing she could think of to put the guy down.

She reared back and kicked him in the balls. Hard.

Logan staggered back, momentarily stunned. The he looked up at Buffy with narrowed eyes and let out a feral growl-

And suddenly six adamantium claws sprung loose from his hands.

Buffy blinked. "Holy shit." She quickly ducked his first wiped, then deflected the second into the wall. Logan kept coming, and Buffy kept dodging, finally grabbing onto his wrists as he lunged forward, trying to drive the claws into her face. The two stood locked like that for several moments, both straining against each other, both unblinking…

"ENOUGH!"

With frightening ease, Logan Found himself hurled away from Buffy, straight up to the ceiling where he found himself pinned. At the same time Colossus' limbs suddenly snapped together and his body went rigid as he was suddenly engulfed in an intensely powerful magnetic field. Logan struggled for a moment, then finally noticed the cause of his current predicament standing on the landing- a pissed-off looking redhead, one hand outstretched towards him, the other clenched in a fist towards Colossus.

"I have had enough," Willow ground out, "of people trashing my house, hurting me, my friends…and I will not stand for it anymore!"

"Whoa," Kitty said, staring up at the prone form of her mentor, then over at her ex-boyfriend. Finally she looked up at the mutant who had so easily bested them. "Hey, look… we didn't come here to pick a fight…"

"Could have fooled me."

"Look, we saw the house was trashed and the door was busted in. We were worried someone had hurt you, so we came in to investigate…"

"Investigate, huh? So who are you, cops? The MOD Squad?"

"We're from Xavier's Institute of Higher learning," Scott said, his eye's clenched tightly as he pulled himself free from the wrecked door, desperately feeling around the floor for his glasses. "We came here to see-"

"Scott?"

Scott stopped cold and cocked his head. "I know that voice."

Buffy gaped at the figure on the floor at her feet. Of all the people…"Scotty Speedo!" she shouted, grabbing the mutant up in a bone-crunching hug.

Willow looked at Buffy and Scott, then back to Kitty. "Huh?"

"I missed this episode, too." The confused girl replied.

"Buffy!" Scott wheezed. "I need to breath…"

"Oops! Sorry." Buffy replied, quickly releasing him. "Wills, this is my cousin Scott. He teaches at a school up in New York." She looked at him quizzically. "You got something in your eyes?

"I need my glasses. My eyes are…rather sensitive." He explained rather lamely. Buffy rolled her eyes at the obvious lie, but retrieved his glasses anyways and hand them to him. Scott slipped them on with a grateful sigh.

"You do realize that 'sensitive eyes' is probably the lamest excuse in the world, right?" Buffy quipped. Scott just let out a sigh, then looked up.

"Logan, what are you doing up there?"

"Just hanging around, one-eye." Logan growled. "Listen, kid- just put me down already."

"Nuh-uh." Willow replied with a shake of her head. "You just tried to kill my best friend. And the tin man over there knocked out my other best friend. So unless I hear some very convincing reasons why you're all in my house, the only place you're going is into orbit."

"Buffy's right- I teach a t a school in New York. But what she doesn't know is that it's a school for mutants. We came here to offer you a place there."

* * *

Five minutes later everyone was more or less comfortably settled in the living room. The X-Men arranged themselves around the wrecked living room while Buffy and Willow attended to a dazed- and loopy- Xander.

"Hey, Xander." Buffy waved three fingers in front of her friends face. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Xander leaned forward and squinted, then looked up to Buffy. "Seventeen?"

Buffy smiled wanly and patted him gently on the shoulder. "Congratulations, and welcome to Giles-ville. You're just a little loopy, but I don't think there's a concussion. I'll just get you some ice for that bump."

"Here," Bobby interrupted, grabbing onto a discarded towel and quickly freezing the center of it. He then handed it to Buffy. "That should work."

"Thant's handy."

"Ain't it?" he replied as he repeated the process and placed the iced towel on his sensitive gut.

Buffy pressed the folded the dry parts of the towel over the iced part and pressed it to Xander's head, directing him to hold it there. He looked at Buffy and giggled drunkenly.

"Heh. You're pretty. Say, when did you get a twin?"

Buffy shook her head. "Just hold it there."

"I'm sorry I hit your friend so hard. I wasn't trying to." Peter said to Willow. The redhead shrugged and smiled.

"As long as he's okay, you're forgiven. " she replied. "Besides, a metal fist in itself hits pretty hard." She turned to Scott. "So now that we're settled and not trying to kill each other, why don't you get started?"

"Fine." Scott sat back in his chair. "First off, I guess we should do some proper introductions. I'm Scott Summers. I teach at Xavier's Institute of Higher Learning. And yes, Buffy is my cousin. We haven't seen each other in a while, though." He looked to the Slayer and grinned. "Last time I remember seeing you, you were short and annoying."

"Not much has changed, huh?" Logan muttered. Buffy looked at him with a sickly-sweet smile.

"What's the matter, champ? Still sore about getting your ass handed to you by a former cheerleader?"

Logan leaned forward menacingly. "You want to go again, short-round? I'm ready for ya."

"Oh, go gel your hair." Buffy snarked, waving him off dismissively. Logan made to rise, but Scott put a warning hand on his arm.

"This is Logan, he teaches at the school, too."

Buffy made to comment, but this time it was Willow that put a hand on her arm. "Down, girl."

"Over there are Kitty Pryde, Peter Rasputin, Bobby Drake, Jubilation Lee, and Rogue."

"What kind of name is 'Rogue'?" Buffy asked.

"What kind of name is 'Buffy'?" the southern girl shot back good-naturedly. Buffy cocked her head, then sighed in defeat.

"You got me there."

"You all seem too young to be teachers." Willow observed.

"We're students," Kitty replied. "The professor thought you'd like to hear about the school from people who actually sit in the classes, instead of from the people who just teach them."

"And you're all mutants?"

"Yup. I can phase through solid objects and become intangible at will, Peter can transform his body into solid organic steel; Bobby can create ice out of the moisture in the air; Jubilee creates energy bursts, and Rogue absorbs other peoples powers with the slightest touch."

"Hense the gloves." Buffy noted. Rogue nodded.

"Sorry about wiping you to out like that," Xander put in, finally coming back to his senses. "I thought you were here to hurt Willow."

"No big. It's nice to see people standing up for her." Jubilee said. "Kinda rare for us mutants."

"Yeah, only thing hurt was my pride." Rogue added.

"And I'm sorry I put the kibosh on you two," Willow said to Logan and Peter. "Just kinda reacted to the situation."

"It's no problem." Peter replied.

"Yeah, no big. Nothing Mags hasn't done to me in the past." Logan turned and looked pointedly at Buffy. "How 'bout you? You gonna apologize?"

"No." Buffy said simply. At Willow's glare, she shighed in defeat. "Oh, fine. Gee Mr. Logan, I'm sorry my five foot four, one-ninteen pound self kicked your ass all over the house. I promise to never do it again, unless you try something in which case I'll just kick your ass straight _out_ of the house."

"She's a pip, ain't she?" Xander quipped as the Xavier students tried to stifle their laughter.

"You haven't changed a bit, Buffy." Scott laughed.

"You either, Scotty Speedo." Buffy quipped back, causing Scott to grimace.

"Okay, I may regret this, but I have to know." Rogue interrupted. "What the hell is up with 'Scotty Speedo'?"

"A couple of years ago," Buffy began, leaning forward eagerly, "We had this big family reunion up in L.A. There was a pool there, so naturally we all wore bathing suits. I had this fabulous one-piece number- but Scott came out with the tinniest pair of speedo's he could find." She cast a sideways glance at Xander. "We're talking swim team small."

"Oy!" Xander exclaimed. "Please, don't remind me of my swim team days."

Buffy turned back to the girls. "So I started calling him 'Scotty Speedo' to annoy him."

"It still works." Scott replied dryly. "Now, if I may continue?"

"Please do."

"Willow, our school is a place where mutants can come and learn about their powers- how to control or contain them, how to use them for good. When the Professor became aware of you, he sent us down here to offer you a place there."

"How exactly did he 'become aware' of her?" Xander asked.

"Normally, there is a machine- he calls it Cerebro- that he uses to detect mutant signatures all over the globe. But this time, he was informed of Willow from an… old friend." He turned back to Willow. "Do you know much about your family history?"

Willow winced and glanced down. "Yeah, I've been looking into that for the past two days."

"You know about your uncle?" Willow nodded silently.

"What uncle?" Buffy asked. Willow let out a defeated sigh.

"His name is Eric Lehnsherr. You may know of him as Magneto."

Buffy blinked in surprise, then let out a wry chuckle. "I guess that makes you the apple that fell far from the orchard, huh?"

Willow snorted in laughter, but then turned to Scott with a confused look. "Wait, why would he want your Professor to help me? Wouldn't he want to use me or something?"

"As it was explained to me, Magneto thinks it would be a wasted effort to try and recruit you, as your ideals and his don't mesh."

"No kidding." Willow replied. "My people already went through one genocide attempt. I have no desire to try that on anybody."

"Plus the whole take over the world thing? It kinda gets old after a while." Xander remarked. "I mean how many times has the guy gone on TV and said he was going to take over the world? Please. At least Wills actually accomplishes the things she says she's gonna do."

"Oh, stop. You're making her blush."

"Must be the head injury." Willow quipped, though she was indeed blushing a little. "So, Uncle Eric thought I'd need some help, so he went to your Professor and he sent you?"

"That about sums it up." Scott replied. "Logan and I came to talk to your parents, and we brought the kids here to talk to you. Charles figured you'd relate to people nearer your age."

"Well, my parents will be a problem. They're on a lecture circuit, and not due back for about a month." Willow sighed and leaned back against the couch. "And right now, I'm exhausted. It's been a long couple of days, and I haven't slept much."

"Well then why don't we come back tomorrow?" Scott suggested. "We can tell you about the school; maybe even give you a few pointers on controlling your powers."

"And I'll get to work on your computer- I should be able to get it up and running in a few hours." Kitty added.

"Kitty's something of a prodigy when it comes to computers," Logan put in.

"That'd be great." Willow replied. "Where are you all staying?"

"We thought we'd just stay at the local motel…"

"No!" Buffy exclaimed suddenly. At Logan's look, she hastily added, "You don't want to stay at those rat traps. They have really big…"

"Rats?" Logan suggested. Buffy nodded.

"Exactly. Big rats. Huge. They'll gnaw your legs off." Her face lit up. "You could stay at my place! Mom would love to see you again, Scott."

"You could put all of us up?"

"Ah, well…"

"Why don't the kids stay here, with Willow?" Xander suggested. "I'm not digging her staying in this house by herself."

"That would be fine." Bobby said. "We'll even help clean the place up."

"I'll say, too." Xander said. "If only because I doubt I could walk in a straight line right now."

"Would you mind if Logan stays with us, Buffy?" Scott asked, an innocent smile playing over his lips. Buffy's eye's narrowed.

"Only if he's house trained." She finally said. "And don't scratch up the furniture." Logan's reply was to extend his middle claw at the young Slayer, who snickered in return. "Willow? What do you say."

"Sounds good to me." She replied sleepily. "Just lock up when you leave."

"I…uh…kinda destroyed the door, Wills." Buffy said meekly.

"I'll seal it up for tonight." Bobby offered.

"Well then, that settles that." Buffy said, standing. "Wills, you need anything, just call and I'll be here in five minutes, 'kay?"

"M'kay." Willow said sleepily, snuggling up against Xander. Buffy smiled and rose. "I'm guessing you all will be okay if we leave?" she asked Bobby.

"We'll be fine." He assured her.

"Then it's settled, for tonight." Buffy said, Scott and Logan rising to follow. "We'll see you in the morning, Wills," she said quietly, lightly kissing her now-sleeping friends forehead before leaving

**TBC... **


	3. Issue 3

**Disclaimer:** Charters in this story are owned by Marvel Comics and Mutant Enemy. No profit is being made from this endeavor.

**A/N:** As a reminder, the Marvel characters will be a blend of the movies and comic continuities- i.e. Bobby and Rogue are teens and dating, but Colossus is Russian and Kitty is pretty much like her comic counterpart.

* * *

**Issue 3**

**June 2007**

Family Matters Part 3: Fast Times at Sunnydale High

* * *

**Previously in ****The**** Red Witch Chronicles:**

_During an attack on the Bronze by agents of Angelus, Willow Rosenberg revealed herself __to be__ a mutant. After initially freaking out, Buffy and Xander, with Giles blessing, made their way to Willow's house- and found it trashed and barricaded. The two teens made their way into the magnetically sealed home and reconnected with their friend._

_Meanwhile, Scott Summers and Logan, along with several junior X-Men have arrived to offer Willow a place at the Xavier Institute, but found a trashed home instead. Upon investigation they find themselves under attack by the Slayer, who mistakes them for mutant-haters. Once things calms down, we discover that Buffy and Scott are related, and the reason for his visit… _

* * *

"Man, what a mess." Bobby noted as he began picking up scattered dishes and discarded silver. "You think any of those creeps managed to get in here?" 

"Chain was still on the door when we got here," Xander replied, "So I don't think so. I think she did this herself."

"I did." Willow said quietly, wearily lifting her head off of her friends shoulder. "I kinda got carried away."

"It's normal," Kitty assured her. "When a mutant first uses their powers, it's very uncontrolled, uncoordinated. They tend to send off massive bursts of energy. The results are often a very large mess and a very tired mutant."

"I'm tired, alright. I just can't seem to fall asleep."

"Don't worry- you're just a little wired right now, too. You'll pass out soon enough." Jubilee said, straitening up some magazines.

"You don't have to clean.."

"It's alright. Least we could do for room and board."

Willow watched as Kitty continued to help straighten out the living room. "So…what's your school like?"

"Honestly?" she replied, sitting back against the tattered remains of the tan recliner, "Take away the mutant factor, Its like any other private school. We have classes like any other school- calculus, biology, social sciences etc. We have classes from between nine a.m. to four p.m., which varies with what schedule you set. And you progress at your own speed, so someone who should be in advanced calculus wouldn't be held back because they're too young."

"And how do you train? You know, with your powers?"

"The Professor designed a specialized training room in the basement of the school." Bobby replied. "It's built to adapt to each individual person. Most students train just to control their powers, so they can lead normal lives."

"Others, like us, train harder to use our powers to help other mutants- and human- in need." Jubilee added. "Keeping the peace and all of that."

"Sounds nice." Willow murmured, drifting off once more. "I wish I was able to go…" finally, the young mutant dozed off. Kitty looked at Xander curiously at her last statement, and Xander motioned for her to follow him out of the room. The two walked in silence up stairs to the linen closet. As he pulled out sheets, he turned to her.

"Listen, Willow…well, she's selfless, you see." He explained. "She has a lot going on here. She tutors kids who need help with their work, she teaches our computer science class,"

"Wait, she teaches her own class?"

"Our former teacher…well, she was killed not to long ago," Xander explained as Kitty held back horrified gasp, "Principal Snyder decided that it would be best if Willow took the class for the rest of the semester, since the year's almost over. The point is, she feels that she has to stay here." Xander took a deep breath. "I need you to convince her to go with you."

Kitty's eye's narrowed. "Why?"

"It's not what you think!" Xander said quickly. "Hell, I don't want her to go! She's my best friend! But she has all of this power, and no idea how to control it… she needs help." He looked at Kitty with pleading eyes. "Help her, please."

* * *

"Honey, I'm home!" Buffy sang out as she led Logan and Scott into her home. "And boy, you wouldn't believe the day I've had…" 

"Buffy? Where have you been?" Joyce Summers asked, wiping her hands on a towel as she came out of the kitchen. "School called and said that you missed your afternoon classes… oh!" She stopped and stared at the two other behind her daughter in surprise.

"Hello, Aunt Joyce." Scott said with a smile, coming around to hug her. "It's been a long time."

"It certainly has, Scott." She replied, pulling back and looking him over. "Still have sensitive eyes, dear?"

"Yeah… never outgrew that." He smiled awkwardly. A small harrumph reminded him of his co-worker behind them. "Oh, this is Logan; he works with me up in New York."

"Ma'am." He said, lightly shaking her hand.

"Mom, Scott's in town for a few days to talk with Willow and her parents about a new private school, and I thought we could have him and his friend stay with us instead of those rat-trap hotels."

"Of course!" Joyce replied. "Let me get the extra linens out. One of you will have to sleep on the sofa…"

"I'll take that." Logan volunteered.

"Just don't scratch the upholstery." Buffy said quietly, eliciting a small growl from the feral X-Man. Buffy grinned and turned to her cousin. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

The two moved off into the living room as Joyce came back with spare sheets for the couch, which Logan helped to put on. "What is it, Buffy?"

"Willow has a lot of responsibilities here, things she feels obligated to stick around for." She looked at her cousin with steely eyes. "Talk her out of them, Scott. Talk her out of them, and get her out of this city. Please."

Scott looked at her confusedly. "Buffy...what..."

"Just do it." Buffy said with finality, turning and heading off towards the kitchen. "What's for dinner, Mom? I'm starving!" she called out, leaving a stunned and confused Scott behind.

* * *

A ringing phone startled Xander out of his pleasant sleep. Groggily he groped around until he finally found the phone. "Red Roof Inn. Front desk speaking." 

"Xander, it's Buffy. How are things?"

"I'm surrounded by a bunch of sleeping, good-looking women. How do you think its- Oww!?"

"Xander?"

"Okay, so Jubilee wasn't sleeping…."

"Just wanted to let you know school starts in an hour. Do you think Willow is gonna come today?"

"I think the bigger question is what will Snyder do if she does comes to school today?"

"Giles can deal with Snyder. And I can always go the 'bad cop' route with if needs be."

"Right. What about your cousin and his little friend?"

"Call him 'little friend' to his face, I dare ya." Jubilee chuckled.

"Scott and Logan will head back to Willow's house to help finish cleaning up. Scott said they had another friend coming today, someone that stayed with their plane last night. We'll be over in about twenty minutes, okay?"

"See you then. By, Buff." Xander hung up the phone and stretched out his cramped muscles, then looked around for his friend. "Uh..where's Willow?"

"She went for a shower. Told me to wake you up in a few minutes if you didn't get up by yourself. I'm kinda bummed that you did wake up," she let off a small burst of fireworks, "I was kinda hoping to see how hi you'd jump."

Xander smiled despite himself at the casual display of Jubilee's powers. "Okay, it sounds lame, but that's actually pretty cool. Is it mostly a light show, or can you do damage with it?" he asked, curious.

"I can blow a hole in a two inch thick steel place, if I put effort into it." She admitted. "Mostly though, I tend to keep it low-key, mostly as distractions."

"Or to wake us up in the morning." Bobby groaned as he pulled himself up off of the floor. "She loves to do that…"

"You know, you are surprisingly cool with all of this." Jubilee noted. "Most of the time, when someone finds out their best friend is a mutant, they completely flip out. But you're sticking with her." She smiled. "It's nice."

"Yeah, well…" Xander waved his hand like it was nothing, "this is Sunnydale, California. We may be off the beaten path, but when it comes to seeing strange things, Mutants aren't that high on the list."

* * *

"Hey, Willow?" Kitty called out, knocking on the red head's door, "Your friend Buffy just called. She said she'd be here in about twenty minutes…" 

"You can come in; I'm dressed."

Kitty opened the door and slipped inside, quietly closing it behind her. Willow glanced at her with a furrowed brow.

"Couldn't you just have walked through it?" she asked.

Kitty shrugged. "I didn't want to seem like I was invading your privacy or anything." She looked at the girl worriedly. "Are you okay?"

Willow sighed. "I haven't left this house since that night at the Bronze. Everybody knows by now…"

"And you're worried."

Willow nodded. "And I'm worried."

Kitty sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. "I won't lie to you- it won't be easy. There'll be people who will torment you, or try to hurt you physically. Just remember that you have some amazing friends that will do anything to protect you- and we'll be here to guide and advise you, at least for a few days."

Willow looked over at the girl. "Do you have to deal with this stuff in Westchester?"

"The town itself has its…bigots," she said carefully, "but not everybody hates mutants there. And the school..well, that's what its there for."

"Willow! Time to go!"

Willow sighed and rose from the bed. "You'll still be around to talk later?"

"Sure will. We got a friend who was staying with the jet last night, she's going to come over and help us finish cleaning up."

"You don't-"

"We want to."Kitty answered with a smile. "Now go! Before you're late."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later the Scooby's made their way onto the grounds of Sunnydale High, with Xander and Buffy flanking a very timid Willow. The girl shrunk back from the accusing glares of her classmates, and the whispers of 'Freak' and 'Mutie' that were harshly directed towards her as she walked down the hall towards her locker. 

"Just ignore 'em." Xander said, moving in closer to his friend and glaring at a group of jocks and smiling as they backed away.

"Just stay close to us, Will. We'll protect you." Buffy added, eyeing a group of jocks menacingly and nodding in satisfaction as they backed off, then guiltily looked away when she saw Xander's reaction.

The trio finally arrived at Willow's locker, and the redhead groaned. The dial on the lock had been broken off, and the emergency key hole had been gummed. Sighing in frustration, she mentally reached into the earth's magnetosphere, and with a gesture of her hand the locker's door flew open.

"Okay, that was cool." Buffy stated.

"Totally." Xander added, nodding in agreement. Willow ignored her friends, taking everything out of the locker and stuffing it into her backpack. Once she was done, the three made their way towards the library. "Hey, don't sweat it, Wills." Xander said softly, "Everything will be okay."

"At least one of us thinks so…" Willow replied.

* * *

"You can't be serious!" Giles shouted, glaring at the toady little man before him. Principal Snyder merely glared back. 

"She's a danger to this school, as well as this community. Several parents have expressed strong feeling about allowing her to resume her studies here after what happened at the Bronze…"

"Her actions probably saved most of the people in the Bronze!" Giles thundered back. "And removing her from this school is blatant racism…"

"You're kicking me out?" Willow said in a quiet, incredulous voice. "What about the Computer Science Class? What about me graduating?"

"And what about me not caring." Snyder replied sarcastically. "I will be replacing you in the Computer Science Class, Ms. Rosenberg. And I don't particularly care about whether or not you graduate. Our student's parents don't want dangerous freaks like you in this school."

"So go ahead and kick her out."

Everyone turned towards the doors to see Cordelia Chase standing there, calmly holding her books and staring straight at Snyder, ignoring the stricken look on Willow's face and the outraged looks on everyone else's. "Seriously. Kick her mutant ass out. Do it, I beg you." Calmly she walked forward until she was standing right in front of the toady principal. "Because the moment you do, I call my daddy. And he calls his lawyers. "That's plural, mind you. And once they're done, my family will own this town, this school, and you." Cordy slammed her books down on the table and poked her finger into his chest. "Willow is the smartest girl in this school. She's also the nerdiest, but that's not the point. So, she's a mutant. I think it's safe to say that everyone always knew she was weird. But it's because of her that half of the students in this dump pass their classes! So go ahead, kick her out. Because I'll take great pleasure in owning you for the rest of your miserable, rodent-like life."

Snyder glared at Cordy for a minute, his rodent-like eye's never leaving hers. Cordy stared unblinkingly back. Finally, he sighed.

"Fine. Rosenberg, you'll stay in the library. I'm sure your friends will bring you your homework. The rest of you get to class. Now." With a glare at the students and Giles, Snyder stalked out of the library, leaving the stunned trio staring at Cordeila, who just rolled her eyes.

"Oh, get over it. If Willow gets kicked out, how the hell am I gonna pass Comp science? Or history? Please."

Willow wiped the tears from her eyes, then swiftly moved in and gave Cody a brief hug. "Thank you, Cordeila."

Cordy awkwardly patted the girl on the back. "Yeah, well… just don't tell anyone, all right? I don't want to ruin my image."

Xander shook his head. "You know Cordy, every so often you do something that proves that you're an actual human being. Not often, but sometimes."

Cordy scoffed. "Oh, go stuff it, Harris."

* * *

"Good heavens! What happened here?" Ororo Munroe, the mutant also known as Storm, asked as she entered the Rosenberg house. "It looks like a hurricane hit this house!" 

"SSDD." Bobby replied. "We're just helping to clean the place up."

Ororo looked at the various pieces of metal still stuck to the empty window frames. "I take it it's true then? She is related to Magneto?"

"Though you'd never suspect it by her demeanor." Kitty added. "She seems like such a shy, timid girl…"

"Just don't make her angry." Jubilee said. "Or her friends."

"Storm." Scott greeted his friend as he came into the living room. "How did the mission go?"

"It was a wash." She replied. "Whatever caused that spike in psionic activity at Alaklie Lake was long gone by the time we got there. Not even Betsy or Emma could find anything."

"They didn't come with you, did they?" he asked. The African woman shook her head. "Damn."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"There's something going on in this town." Scott replied. "Her friends seem to genuinely care for her…"

"But at the same time, they sure are eager fro her to leave." Kitty said. "Its like they're afraid something is going to happen to her."

"Have you seen this house?" Jubilee asked. "Something already happened to her!"

"Something worse." Logan put in. "There's something about this town that's setting me on edge. Something familiar…"

"Something dangerous?" Storm asked. Logan looked at her and nodded.

"Very."

* * *

Time passes slowly in school when you have to spend the entire day in the library, Willow found out. All of the things that make the time go by faster- intellectual exercises, class participation- all of the things one associates with school. Giles did his best to keep her occupied- quizzing her on several of her subjects, and having her help him research the latest demonic threats. Buffy, Xander and even Cordy visited during lunch, though they were quickly chased out by Snyder. When three o'clock finally came around, the friends all made their way back into the library. 

"Still think school is fun, Wills?" Xander joked, tossing his book bag under the table and plopping down into the nearest chair.

"A barrel of laughs." Willow sighed. "I wish Oz were here."

"When's he due back?"

"Not until next week. I swear, the guy's a genius, but he'll still be held back next year."

"So…any word on Angelus?" Buffy asked, sitting down across from her friend. Giles shook his head.

"None, though I'm fairly certain he was behind the incident at the Bronze. And I dare say he won't be happy that his plans didn't succeed."

"How do you know they didn't?" Cordy asked. "The Bronze is trashed and people are spooked."

"Yeah, but the people are spooked because I trashed the Bronze." Willow said ruefully. "Not because the living dead came through and tried to have a buffet."

"I dare say he won't be very pleased when he discovers exactly what happened." Giles pointed out. "You could very well become a target."

"Which is why I think it's a very good idea for you to take up my cousins' offer…" Buffy started, but was silenced with a look from her friend.

"I'm already a target, Buffy. I'm your friend. That's all he needs." Willow sighed. "Besides, I'm working on some stuff right now… stuff that Miss Calendar was working on…"

"Willow, if you're talking about magic's…" Giles started.

"I can handle it, Giles."

"You do this, you are opening a door that you cannot close again." Giles warned. "The magic's are not to be trifled with. The power can overwhelm you…"

"I already got power overwhelming me." Willow snapped. "I doubt this will be much worse."

"Okay, time out, everyone." Buffy called out. "Let's just all chill out. It's been a long few days, and I know tempers are frayed. But right now, we have three things to worry about. One- how to keep Willow safe with all of the anti-mutant bias that's springing up. No arguments Will- that a priority for me. Two- figuring out what Angel is up to. And three…"

* * *

"We need to find out exactly what happened at the Bronze." Scott finished to the group. "Whatever's happening in this town, odds have it that whatever happened at the Bronze has something to do with it. So we split into two groups- Bobby, you take your team to the club. Look around, but try not to be seen- or disturb anything." 

"We're on it." Bobby said, already taking the lead and pulling his uniform out of his bag. Te rest of his team followed suit and rapidly donned the leather outfits.

"Storm- you, Logan and I will head back to my cousin's house. She said they would all go back there first tonight, and I want to introduce you."

"Your cousin lives in town?"

"His cousin kicked Wolvie's butt." Jubilee snickered, then blanched slightly at the scowl on Logan's face. "Well, she did…"

"She got lucky." Logan argued.

"Regardless," Scott put in, "Lets just get this done with. I want to get this wrapped up by night fall, if at all possible. And by the end of the week, if she's willing, I'd like Willow to come to the Institute. And if she's not- I'd like to at least know she'll be safe here. So lets go people."

Bobby looked over to Kitty, who was pulling on her dark leather jacket. "You ready for some breaking and entering?"

Kitty smirked as she zipped up her jacket. "Let's be bad guys."

* * *

"Do we have any idea what he's up to?" Buffy asked, looking at her friends. Giles shook his head. 

"I'm afraid not." The Watcher replied. "He's been laying low since the attack on the Bronze. I can only guess that he's planning on killing you, Buffy."

"Yeah, what else is new." The Slayer replied.

"And he's probably going to be after me." Willow added.

"So we need intel." Buffy said finally. "I'll try hitting up Willie's tonight. In the mean time, you should be safe as long as my cousin and the Power Pack are in town." She turned to Giles. "We're all having dinner over at my house tonight. Wanna come and meet the family?"

"Yes, that sounds lovely."

Buffy turned to Cordy. "how about you, Cordy? You earned a place at the table tonight."

"As much as I'd love to share in the Beaver moment, I've got to study tonight to make up for the abysmal teaching of Snyder."

Willow smiled and handed Cordelia a diskette. "Here are the rest of my lesson plans for the year. They should keep you at the head of the class."

Cordy favored her with a rare warm smile. "Thanks Wills."

"I appreciate you standing up for me."

"It was no big." Cordy said, grabbing her bag as she rose. "The way I figure it, you were already a freak before- this is just something new." With a grin and a wink, the brunette turned and walked out of the library, leaving an amused group of student behind.

"And here I thought she changed." Xander said ruefully."How I was wrong."

"Well, she has the right idea." Buffy said as she rose. "Let's get going, before it gets too dark."

* * *

"Man, this place looks like a dive." Jubilee announced as they arrived at the ruined club one known as the Bronze. 

Rogue shot the former mallrat a look. "Well, there was a bit of impromptu redecoratin' not too long ago."

"Let's just check out the inside. Shadowcat, can you phase us all in at once?"

"Are you kidding?" she asked, shooting him a look. "Everybody hold hands and hold their breaths- this will feel a little weird." The team all grasped hands, and Kitty allowed her power to wash over everyone as she led them to the front wall of the ruined club. In an instant her power allowed their bodies to pass between the individual molecules of the wall, slipping seamlessly through without disturbing anything, until after only a moment they were all inside. "We're in."

"Good work."

"Holy Hannah!" Rogue exclaimed. "Look at this mess!"

The club was trashed. Every piece of metal in the place, aside form structural supports, luckily- seemed to have been bent and twisted into odd angles. Chairs and tables were strewn about, while silverware, serving plates, and even pieces of banisters were stuck into the walls at odd angles. Bobby looked over the damage with a critical eye.

"Something happened here." He said after a moment. "This wasn't a case of a new mutant loosing control of her powers, or even randomly lashing out. Look at the patterns of damage on the wall- it's like it was being aimed…."

"Uh…guys?" Jubilee was kneeling near the center of the club, her yellow rain coat splayed out around her. Hesitantly she lifted a small, pointed stick of wood and held it up for the rest to see. "Either someone is building a very small fence…"

"A stake." Bobby said, disbelieving.

"And notice the mounds of dust under the impacts in the walls…"

"Wait, Jubilee…are you thinking that _vampires_ attacked?" Kitty queried. Jubilee shrugged.

"Why not?"

"Vampires." Kitty repeated. Jubilee sighed.

"I've read the mission files, Kit-kat. You've dealt with alien invasions, demons in Limbo, Peters's sister was a witch...and don't even get me started on your pet. Why not vampires?"

"Why wouldn't she had said anything?" Rogue asked. Bobby shot the girl a look.

"It's one thing to come out as a mutant; it's another thing to say 'Gee, I first used my powers defeating a roving gang of vampires'. I mean, I've been at the Institute for a few years now, and even I sometimes have a hard time believing all of the stuff I've seen. If she did use her powers to fight off some kind of demonic threat; I doubt she'd trust that little revelation to a group of kids she'd just met."

"Something is definitely happening in this town, I think we all agree on that." Kitty remarked. " But whatever's happening, we're not going to find out here. Let's head to the Summers' house- maybe we can find out from the proverbial horse's mouth."

* * *

"Honey, I'm home!" Buffy called out as the four walked into her house on Revello drive, then sighed. "I need new material." 

"Definitely." Xander agreed, slinging his bag onto the floor by the door as Joyce entered the foyer. "Hi, Mrs. Summers! Something sure smells good…"

"And someone sure is hungry." Willow quipped. "Hi, Mrs. Summers."

Giles smiled and gently shook her hand. "Hello, Joyce."

"Rupert. Nice to see you again. Hello, Willow. How are you?"

The red head shrugged. "Surviving, I guess." She smiled as Scott and Logan came in behind Joyce, joined by a dark skinned lady. "Hello again, Mr. Summers, Mr. Logan."

"Just Scott, please." Scott smiled. "Mr. Summers makes me feel old. Willow, I'd like to introduce you to Ororo Munroe. She also teaches with us at the Institute."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, child." Storm said as she took Willow's hand. "The others told me much about you."

"It's nice to meet you." Willow replied.

"Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes." Joyce announced. "Will the others be back by then?"

"They should be." Logan replied, and the group made their way into the family room.

"Kitten tells me you teach a computer class at your high school," Ororo started, taking a seat across from the red head. Willow sighed ruefully.

"I used to. Principal Snyder decided he didn't want someone like me teaching his students. He even almost kicked me out of school…"

"That's absurd!" Joyce exclaimed. "Buffy's always telling me that you are one of the brightest minds in that school! How can they think to kick you out?"

"Some people are just to shallow to think past their prejudices." Storm explained. "It's a sad but true fact of today's world.

"Yeah, well Cordelia of all people set him straight." Xander quipped. "And it don't get a whole lot more shallow than that."

"Cordy has layers." Buffy said."Like an onion. Many layers, and most of them stink, but definitely layers."

The small group sat talking for the next few minutes, with Storm explaining her role at the Institute and everybody else catching up. After a few minutes, Willow excused herself and stepped out onto the front porch to get some air, the events of the day finally catching up with her. Sighing wearily, she laid her head against the cool wood of the porch pillar and sighed. Idly, she fingered a small diskette in her pocket that she had found not two days ago in her classroom.

It hadn't been one of hers. It had belonged to Ms. Calendar.

And it held the key to defeating Angelus.

_The soul restoration spell,_ she thought. I _can pull it off, I know I can. I just need a bit more time…_

Muffled voices brought her out of her reverie, and Willow looked out to the street to see the Xavier students returning. Grasping onto the pillar, Willow leaned out slightly, smiling bemusedly at the group as they came up to the house.

"You know, I was seriously considering going to your school," she joked, eyeing the black leather uniforms with a bemused eye, "but if those are your school uniforms, than I'm afraid I have to decline."

Bobby smirked. "These are our work uniforms."

"I'd rather work at the Doublemeat Palace." Willow grimaced. "On second thought, maybe not…"

"Were you going to tell us about the demons, Willow?" Kitty asked quietly. At the girls shocked expression, she pressed on. "We went to the Bronze, Willow. And we noticed the piles of dust under the strategically placed bits of metal you threw around. This is the reason you don't want to leave, isn't it? You Buffy and Xander are fighting these things."

Willow sighed. _Man, Buffy isn't going to like this…_ she thought to herself. "It's a bit more…complicated…than that, but essentially, yes. How are you not freaking out?"

"We have…some experience in dealing with unusual activities." Bobby explained. "Look, whatever's going on here, we can help…"

"Some experience," Willow repeated, stepping off the porch and walking up to the young mutant. "Do you have any idea where you're standing right now?"

"Umm….California?" Jubilee replied, only slightly sarcastically. Willow shook her head.

"Boca del Inferno. The Hellmouth. You are standing on the very mouth of hell. Every vampire, demon, and evil nasty thing you've ever heard about- and quite a few that you haven't- come here to try and end the world."

"And you fell it's your duty to stop them?" Bobby asked.

"No, I'm just trying to help." Willow replied. "Look, something big is happening right now. It would take too long to explain…"

"That's okay, Wills." A familiar voice drawled. Willow's eyes widened and a sense of dread settled over her as she turned back towards the house, where a smirking Angelus stood at the top of the porch steps.

"We can explain over dinner."

**To Be Continued…**

* * *

**The Bullpen**

And now for something completely different… A slightly different format, taking a cue from Melodyrider's 'The Adventures of Kitty Pryde'. This will be the area for all of my author's notes and a place to respond to any prevalent questions. I promise to keep it brief, but informative.

That being said, I will try to make this a monthly story now, which should help me with the rest of my workload. Also, as you might have noticed in this chapter, I will be veering off the set story of each season I do- so please, no reviews saying 'But Willow never found the disk! Buffy did!'. I know. But in Buffy, the X-Men never showed up and Willow is just a witch.

'Till next month true believers!

-Naitch03


	4. Issue 4

**Disclaimer- I own not anything here. Marvel and Joss do.**

**Chapter 4

* * *

**

"Angelus." Willow breathed, terror filling her very soul. Dimly she thought she should get the others inside the house, but her feet seemed rooted to the ground.

The vampire smiled cruelly. "Hello, Willow. I've been looking forward to seeing you again…ever since I heard what you did at the Bronze."

"Willow, who is this creep?" Kitty asked quietly.

"Bad news." The young mutant responded. "You have to get into the house. Now!"

"No, I want them to stay. After all- as pale and skinny as you are-" Angelus morphed into his vampire face- "It's hardly enough for me, let alone my friends." Seemingly from nowhere, twenty-odd vampires came out of the shadows, surrounding the small group.

"Eat up boys!" Angelus shouted as they all rushed the group.

* * *

At one, the junior X-Men moved into action- freezing, pounding, blinding and hitting anything and everything that came their way- all but one.

Kitty Pryde had seen a lot as an X-man- from evil mutants to her fair share of demons. But as the vampires rushed towards her, she couldn't help but flash back to the one man-come-demon that had changed her life- and nearly stole her sole.

Ogun.

And she screamed.

* * *

"Sorry about Willow- she's been kinda quite ever since…"

Ororo smiled knowingly. "She came out, as it were?"

"Yeah. She'll be fine, though. She always manages to rebound."

"She seems like a tough kid."Logan observed, and Scott nodded. Buffy just smiled and laughed quietly.

"Yeah, she really-" she was interrupted by a piercing scream coming from the front lawn, followed by the distinctive sounds of fighting from the front lawn. "What the…" Everyone turned to look out the window- and to their horror, discovered the absent teens under attack.

"Shit!" Buffy growled, jumping up and running to the door despite her mother's protests. She paused for only a moment to grab a couple of stakes she had concealed in the inner lining of her leather jacket, then threw open the door-

Which was blocked by a snarling vampire.

Without pausing she thrust the stake into its heat all too aware that her family and their friends were watching, horror struck. The vamp dusted and Buffy moved through the cloud of quickly dissipating dust and ran towards Willow, who was pinned to the ground by Angelus. She didn't even pause in her run as she flung a stake at the vamp who had gotten it's fangs into the paralyzed Shadowcat, then landed a seated drop-kick on the side of her former lover's head, knocking him off of Willow and away a few good feet. And instant later she kipped up and ran towards him, smashing the face of an unlucky vampire the process and sending him spiraling into Logan's waiting claws, which quickly decapitated it.

"Don't hold back, Cyke!" Wolverine shouted."Take 'em down hard!"

"We don't kill!"

"They're already dead!" he shouted back, taking another down that Colossus sent his way. "So don't worry about it!"

Cyclops gritted his teeth and lifted his glasses a fraction, sending a ruby-colored beam of energy into the nearest vampire- which, to his horror, disintegrated upon contact.

Jubilee and Rogue were holding their own, fighting back to back- Jubilee would stun a vampire with a blast of her fireworks, while Rogue would take them down with the Judo that Logan had taught her. Iceman alternated between freezing them in place and hurling razor-sharp ice fragments at his foes, while Colossus lived up to his codename and plowed though adversaries. The only one who wasn't fighting was Shadowcat, how had huddled herself against a tree in the front yard.

"Hey, honey!" Angelus snarled, jumping to his feet and rushing his former lover. "I've been looking forward to this for so long now! Just you, me… and a couple dozen of my friends…"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Buffy shot back as she rounded a roundhouse on Angelus' jaw. "Never bring your friends around without calling first!" The two continued to fight, almost dancing with each other; both landing blows, but neither landing that critical blow.

Willow, meanwhile, had gotten up and had made her way to the injured Shadowcat. "Kitty! You alright?" she asked, coming to a crouch next to the bleeding X-Man. Kitty groaned in response.

"I can't believe I freaked out like that! I never freak out like that!"

"Don't sweat it." Willow comforted. " The first time I saw a vamp, I freaked, too." Without thinking, she absently used her powers to rip a manhole cover out of the street and flung it towards a group of vamps- two of which lost their heads. Shadowcat raised her eyebrow.

"Nice shot." She remarked.

"Wills!" Buffy yelled, "get them in the house!"

"Got it, Buff!" Willow shot back, then grasped Kitty's arm. "Okay, up you go…"

"X-Men, fall back into the house now!" Scott yelled, vaporizing another vamp. He turned to get his cousin- when suddenly she slammed into him. As they fell to the ground in a mess of limbs, and Scotts glasses flew off his face. Before he could fully close his eyes, a blast of ruby-colored energy slammed into Buffy, sending her flying into the living room of the house through the large picture windows. Angelus shouted in triumph before moving towards Willow.

"You're next, freak." He growled. Willow stood her ground defiantly, shielding the injured Kitty from the master vampire. Her hands were outstretched as if she was trying to channel all the power she could.

"You try it, and I fry you!"

Angelus let out a contemptuous laugh. "Please! Anything you've done has been a fluke! You got power, little girl, but you don't got control!"

"Okay." Shadowcat said from behind Willow. "In that case- he'll fry you." She finished, pointing over the vampire's shoulder. Angelus scoffed.

"You don't actually think I'll buy…" he trailed off as he heard a soft growling behind him. Whirling around, he came face to face with-

A very small dragon.

That breathed a very large ball of flame.

Right into his face.

"Yeargh!!!!" the vampire screamed as the fire enveloped his head. He staggered back-

Straight into the swing of Xander's Louisville Slugger.

"Batter up, asshole!" Xander growled, swinging again and knocking Angelus back into the street. The vampire staggered back to his feet and ran away, desperately batting the flames on his face, and his remaining companions left as well. He smirked and turned back to the girls. "Well that's…" he trailed off as he saw the dragon wrapping itself around Kitty's neck. "A dragon." He finished, dumbfounded.

"Lockheed!" Kitty cried out happily, scratching the small dragon under its chin. Lockheed purred in content.

Xander shook his head. "Oy, I'm late by a few minutes, and this is what I get? A vamp attack thwarted by a pet dragon!" he stopped and considered for a moment. "Actually, that's pretty cool…"

"Buffy!" Scott yelled, rushing into the house where Joyce was helping her daughter sit up. "Are you okay?"

Buffy cracked her neck and stretched a bit, wincing slightly. "Just a cracked rib or two, no biggie. You okay, Mom?"

"Am I okay? Am I okay?" Joyce screeched, hysterical. "My daughter gets blown though our window, creatures are attack your friends outside…"

"She calling me a creature?" Wolverine growled slightly as he helped Kitty into the house.

"I'm calling you a creature." Buffy shot back. "Do yourself a favor- leave talking to the grown-ups. Scott," she turned away from the angry Canadian to her cousin, "There's a first aid kit in the kitchen under the counter; there's also a bottle of scotch. Bring both. Xander, take Bobby and Peter down to the basement; there should be some sheets of plywood and some tools. Get this window boarded up, please. Willow, help the wounded. Everyone else just sit down and chill for a few minutes. I need to get changed." With that Buffy trudged up the stairs towards her room.

* * *

After a few minutes of everyone getting situated, Joyce finally pulled her self out of her stupor enough to ask the question on everyone's mind. "Can someone explain to me what is going on?" Joyce asked pleadingly as Scott helped her into the nearest chair. "What has Buffy got herself into this time?"she turned to Scott. "Is she a mutant, too?"

Scott shrugged. "It certainly looks that way…"

"She's not." All eyes turned to Willow, who promptly blushed under the attention. "I mean… it's not that simple…see, she's…well…"

"A Slayer." Logan finished, leaning against the doorframe to the kitchen."I'm right, ain't I?"

"And what do you know about Slayers?" Xander asked, directing the other two boys to put the board up against the broken window. Logan shrugged.

"Met one a few years ago in New York. Patrolled with her for a while. Had a kid… never knew what happened to him. She died not to long after I left."

"Anybody we knew?" Ororo asked. Logan shook his head.

"Before our time. This was back in the seventies."

"Before your time?" Xander asked incredulously.

"Before the team's time." Logan clarified.

"So…a dragon?" Willow said, eyeing the diminutive reptile as she bandaged Kitty's neck.

"Yup. Got him on a…trip, a few years ago." She replied, hedging around the truth.

"Is everyone here? Conscious? Sober?" Buffy asked, coming back in to the room.

Joyce took a long drink of scotch. "Give me a few minutes to work on that last one." She remarked.

"Buffy…" Scott started, but the Slayer held up her hand to silence him.

"Logan's right. I'm the Slayer."

"And what exactly is that?" Joyce pressed.

"I wish Giles were here…. He's much better at this than I am…"

"The school librarian? What does he have to do with this?" her mother demanded.

"I'll get to that in a second. As for the Slayer- basically, everything that you ever heard goes bump in the night is real, and I'm destined to fight them. Giles is my Watcher, it's his job to train me."

"The librarian?" Bobby asked incredulous

"Don't let the tweed fool you. He can fight." Xander noted.

"But mostly, he just gets knocked unconscious." Willow added.

"Define 'things that go bump in the night'." Joyce requested, anger evident in her voice.

"Vampires. Demons. The occasional homicidal witch or invisible girl. Pretty much every bad horror movie you've ever saw."

"This is crazy." Joyce said, shaking her head. "I don't believe this…"

"Open your eyes, Mom!" Buffy exclaimed. "What do you think has been going on for the past two years? The fights, the weird occurrences. How many times have you washed blood out of my clothing, and you still haven't figured it out?"

Joyce threw her glass to the ground and shot to her feet. The whole room jumped slightly at the sound of the glass breaking. "Well, it stops now!" She demanded.

"No, it doesn't stop! It _never _stops!" Buffy shouted back. "Do-do you think I chose to be like this? Do you have any idea how lonely it is, how dangerous? I would love to be upstairs watching TV or gossiping about boys or... God, even studying! But I have to save the world... again."

Joyce looked ready to get into a full blown shouting match with her daughter, but Scott stepped in. "Okay, why don't we all take the rest of the night to cool down. It's been a long day, a lot has happened, and we all need time to process it." He turned to Joyce. "Aunt Joyce, if you don't mind my students and I will camp out here in the living room; that way we can protect you if anything else tries to attack the house."

Joyce sighed and her shoulder's slumped in tiredness. "Fine. It's fine. I'll go find some blankets…"

"We're on it!" Xander exclaimed, grabbing Willow. The two headed off to the linen closet.

Scott turned to his cousin, but Buffy was already trudging up the stairs towards her room. A weariness beyond her years seemed to surround the young Slayer, and Scott glanced worriedly after her. "I hope she'll be okay." He said quietly.

Logan stared as well. _So do I._ he thought.

* * *

The new day brought the same old problems, it seemed.

Mother and daughter barely spoke to one another; it was all Scott could do to keep the peace. Soon the Scoobies, as Scott learned they called themselves, headed off to school, and the X-Men found themselves in downtown Sunnydale looking for supplies to repair the house. They all split up (having been assured that the town was safe in the daylight by Buffy) and got to work.

Or, in Scott's case, wandered aimlessly.

He had accepted long ago that his family wasn't normal. His brother Alex was also a mutant with powers that he could barely control. His father, whom he had thought dead for years, had turned out to be Corsair, leader of Starjammers in the Shi'ar Empire. But he had always thought- and secretly prayed- that Joyce's side of the family would be spared the abnormalities that his family had been through; that they would have normal lives. Sadly, that wasn't to be.

A flash of red hair caught Scott's attention, and he looked up in time to see a hauntingly familiar face turn the corner up ahead.

"Jean?" he whispered to himself. He hurried around the corner-

And ran head first into Logan.

"Hey! Watch- oh, it's you." Logan grumbled. "What's the rush one-eye?"

"I-I thought I saw…." Scott trailed off, and shook his head to clear it. "Nothing. Just- nothing."

"I saw her, too." Scott's head shot up an he looked Logan dad n the eye.

"What?"

"I thought I saw Jean." He replied. "What's more, I smelled her." He tapped the side of his nose. "The nose don't lie."

"Can you track her?" Logan shook his head.

"No. I followed the scent to the alley, there, but then it disappeared."

Scott looked down the alley, then back to Logan. "What is going on in this town?"

**TBC…**

A/N: Man, oh man. I've totally lost interest in this story. Not the series- just this part. It the Episode 1 syndrome- You want to get to Anakin turning into Darth Vader, but first you have to set thing up. And this is exactly what this book is- set up. In my mind, I'm already on Book 5, which I'm aching to write. I mean, this story is almost done- I can cut it down a lot- but soon I'll be introducing the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and more Marvel Characters- and then I'll be crossing them all with the DCU.

See why I'm excited?

So, until Joe Q. gets his head out of his ass and gives Spidey and MJ One More Day, make mine DC!


End file.
